To comprehend all the game niceties and be successful against real opponents in the Internet, you need to know some basic rules and restrictions that will help you to predict opponentâs deck and moves.

DECK FORMATION

Each player has cards of 5 Elements (4 basic Elements and 1 special Element, related to the specific mage type). The deck is displayed by 5 vertical rows; each row is connected with a particular Element: Fire, Water, Air, Earth and the specific Element. Each Element card has its cost, i.e. the amount of mana of a particular Element you need to spend to be able to play this card. Cards of each Element are ordered corresponding to increasing values in their vertical rows: the cheapest cards are on top, the most expensive are on bottom. Herewith, there is a particular table (watch the table below), that shows the rules of deck formation.

The first 5 columns are indicating playerâs deck; the numbers in each cell are indicating the cost of the cards that can be located there. For example, the numbers 1-3 in the first cell of the second column mean that the top water card in playerâs deck can be a 1-mana water card (Â«MeditationÂ»), or a 2-mana water card (Â«Sea SpriteÂ»), or a 3-mana water card (Â«Merfolk ApostateÂ»). Higher cost cards canât be located in this cell! The sixth column illustrates the formation of special cards of Â«Goblin ChieftainÂ», as this class differs from other â his cheapest card costs 0 mana, the most expensive one costs 7 mana.

To make predictions about the content of your opponentâs deck you need to know the basic rule that says that players canât have the same cards in their decks. So, if you have some particular card in your deck, you can be 100% sure that opponent doesnât have this card. But Cleric against Warrior Priest is an exception, because these classes have 2 general cards: Â«AngelÂ» and Â«Divine JusticeÂ». So, in this kind of duel both players can have the same cards mentioned above.

Another important rule that will help you to analyze your opponentâs deck is the Â«1% ruleÂ». It says that if you have a card, there is less than 1% chance you also have the adjacent card, one mana higher/lower. For example, itâs utterly unlikely that a player will have both Â«Ice GuardÂ» and Â«Merfolk ElderÂ» in his deck. But there is an exception: the rule doesnât apply to Fire cards with cost from 1 to 8 and 9-10.

KEY CARDS IN THE DECK

Besides the listed rules of deck formation there are also some rules that apply to the content of each playerâs deck.

Â· Each deck necessarily has only one mana generator from 1 of 3 basic Elements: Fire (Â«Priest of FireÂ»), Air (Â«Merfolk ElderÂ») and Earth (Â«Elf HermitÂ»). Wherein, the starting mana resources are always distributed in a way, where you can play your mana generator on the first turn. Â· Each deck necessarily has at least 2 healing cards from the basic Elements, but not more than 4 healing cards (healing cards from special Elements are not counted). There are 7 healing cards from basic Elements in total. Water healing cards: Â«Ice GuardÂ», Â«Water ElementalÂ». Air healing card: Â«Faerie SageÂ». Earth healing cards: Â«Elven HealerÂ», Â«Natureâs RitualÂ», Â«RejuvenationÂ», Â«Master HealerÂ». Â· Each deck necessarily has only one mass destruction spell aimed at the enemy and his creatures or only at enemy's creatures (Â«sweepÂ» on the game slang) from the following list - Â«Flame WaveÂ», Â«Chain LightningÂ», Â«InfernoÂ». Â· Each deck necessarily has at least one, but not more than two direct damage spells - Â«ArmageddonÂ», Â«Lightning BoltÂ», Â«Chain LightningÂ», Â«Natureâs FuryÂ».

Thus, each player necessarily has at least one mana generator from the basic Elements in his deck; from 2 to 4 healing cards from the basic Elements; one mass destruction spell aimed only at the enemy and/or his creatures; from 1 to 2 direct damage spells. All other cards are distributed randomly in the deck, according to the rules mentioned previously.BANNED COMBINATIONS

Some of the combinations are way too effective, so they are banned and canât be the part of the deck.

Some of the cards can only be in the deck if there are a certain number of support cards.

Â«PhoenixÂ»:

Â«PhoenixÂ» can be in the deck only if there are exactly one mass destruction spell (Â«Acidic RainÂ», Â«ArmageddonÂ», Â«Stone RainÂ», Â«Drain SoulsÂ») and exactly one support card: Â«ArmageddonÂ», Â«Merfolk ApostateÂ», Â«Merfolk ElderÂ», Â«Greater DemonÂ», Â«Divine JusticeÂ», Â«Insanian PeacekeeperÂ».

Â«DragonÂ»:

Â«DragonÂ» can be in the deck only if there is at least one support card: Â«Call to ThunderÂ», Â«Lightning BoltÂ», Â«Chain LightningÂ», Â«Natureâs FuryÂ».

Â«Cursed UnicornÂ»:

Â«Cursed UnicornÂ» can be in the deck only if there is exactly one mass destruction spell: Â«Acidic RainÂ», Â«ArmageddonÂ», Â«Stone RainÂ».

MANA DISTRIBUTION

At the beginning of the duel different amounts of mana are given. A player that goes first is given 21 points of mana (the sum of mana of all Elements). At the same time, a player that goes second is given 20 points of mana. But after the first player will make a move, the second player will receive 5 mana (+1 to each Element) and his overall mana points will be 25.

Mana is distributed in the following way: the starting overall number of mana points in basic Elements is equal 19 for the first player, and 18 for the second player. Besides, the starting number of mana points in each basic Element can range from 3 to 6 mana points. What concerns mana in special Element, it always equals 2 mana points for both players.

As it was mentioned before, the starting mana is distributed in a way where each player can play his mana generator from the basic Element on the first turn.

HOW ATTACKING SPELLS WORK

There multiple attacking spells in the game, but all of them work in the same way. Some of the phases can be skipped if a spell ignores some conditions initially. All the phases are listed in a priority order and work successively.

1) Damage to opponent is dealt. (For example, Â«ArmageddonÂ» strikes for playerâs Fire power +8). 2) Damage to opponentâs creatures is dealt. (The creatures are remaining on board even if they have lost all their health points). 3) Extra effect from a spell is performed. (For example, Â«Acidic RainÂ» reduces all enemy powers by 1, Â«Wrath of GodÂ» increases playerâs Holy power according to the number of survived creatures, etc.). 4) Damage to your creatures is dealt (The creatures are remaining on board even if they have lost all their health points). 5) The certain amount of mana is subtracted for using the spell. 6) The duel ends, if a player dies. (Your opponent or you, for example if Â«Wall of ReflectionÂ» was on board). 7) Opponentâs creatures die. (different effects and abilities are performed, for example increasing/decreasing mana, rebirth, etc.). 8) Your creatures die. (Watch the previous point). 9) Your creatures perform an attack. 10) The turn ends.BASIC BATTLE MECHANICS

The turn in Spectromancer â is a period of time that is given to each player alternately for making different moves and to their creatures to perform attacks and abilities. Each turn consists of 4 phases:

The âleft to rightâ rule â the rule that indicates the order of the effects, creaturesâ attacks and dealing damage with spells. This order is determined by the creaturesâ positioning, for example, creatures that are positioned to the left attack first. If a player has creatures on board with various effects that are automatically performed at the beginning of his turn (after the phase of gaining mana), the effects of creatures that are positioned to the left will be performed first.

So, for example, Â«Sea SpriteÂ» that is positioned to the left of Â«Elven HealerÂ» will deal 2 damage to its owner before the player will be healed for 3. Also pay attention, that Vampire Lordâs ability to drain health points from his creatures works after the phase of gaining mana, but before the phase of creaturesâ effects.

When dealing damage to creatures with spells that influence all opponentâs creatures, the creatures that are positioned to the left will receive damage first. If a spell influences both sides (for example Â«Stone RainÂ»), at first the damage will be dealt to the opponentâs creatures from the left to the right, and then the damage is dealt to casterâs creatures from the left to the right._________________________ _________________________ ______

Special thanks to Egeon for great assistance in the preparation of this material, as well as personal support. Without his participation this article wouldn't be so deep and completed. Thanks to Vadim for the systematization of reference materials on the Prospectro website. Thanks to his recent activities I was able to gather all the necessary materials quickly. Thanks to TosheR for the materials on the mechanics of spells. Thanks to Cooler for his constant feedback, personal support and assistance in adding materials on banned and binding combinations in the game. Thanks to Krugopryad for his help with translation of this text into English._________________________ _________________________ ______

Thanks to Ñommunityplayersfrom China for his help with translation of this text into ä¸­å½. Special thanks: Reafer. Link toChinese version ofthe article: https://yadi.sk/i/60hr_oO0pcjinThanks to MikeBnDefor his help with translation of this text into Deutsch.Link toGermany version ofthe article: https://yadi.sk/i/Kzf7BzaVptLAQThanks to Martzukov for his help with translation of this text into RomÃ¢nesc. Link Romanian version ofthe article: https://yadi.sk/i/iAhDBqkjpvK8NThanks to greatRutto for his help with translation of this text into Italiano. Link Italian version ofthe article: https://yadi.sk/i/qMvgvYfMq5oGk Thanks to MalakoiHebraico for his help with translation of this text into Portugues (Brazil). Link Portuguese (Brazil) version of the article: https://yadi.sk/i/PyeL4DYf3QJ7bd

Modified by Cooler on 2017-12-05 18:23:24

Kealah

2016-02-27 16:25:00

Thanks to Ñommunityplayersfrom China for his help with translation of this text into ä¸­å½. Special thanks: Reafer. Link toChinese version ofthe article: https://yadi.sk/i/60hr_oO0pcjin